第１０１４堀：集う迷宮の主たち (Part2)
"Understood. The reason I’ve gathered all of you Dungeon Masters here today is to deduce the intentions of the Dungeon Master currently operating within the Hein Empire. Kirika and her team are already moving to investigate and attempt contact, but I want to formulate some theories beforehand. If things go poorly, this could escalate into a large-scale war involving dungeons. That is something I want to avoid at all costs."
"Agreed. A minor skirmish is one thing, but I don't have the time to play around with a full-scale war. It would only mean more paperwork."
"Exactly. I can't even imagine what would happen if a massive war broke out in that territory. It’s best to eliminate as many uncertain variables as possible."
Indeed. If a war were to break out, my workload would skyrocket. Plus, it would be a heavy blow to the Zurable Empire, which has just joined the Intercontinental Exchange Alliance. And on a personal note, I certainly don't want to see the likes of Schans and the others get hurt.
"With that said, I’d like to borrow your collective wisdom. You all recognize this map in the documents, right?"
As Yuki-san spoke, Kirika smoothly activated the projector, displaying a map using photographs of the Zurable Empire and the Hein Empire.
"Whoa. Wait, I just realized—why do we have such a detailed map?"
"Ah, we’ve been operating aircraft carriers in the Zurable Empire. We deployed high-altitude reconnaissance planes as well, since we’ve already violated their airspace once. Because there was a possibility that their aerial forces might mobilize, we’ve been conducting regular reconnaissance of this land and the land near Kagura’s group. This is the product of those efforts."
...I see. So that’s what Yuki-san meant when he said he wanted to try using the airport facilities in Baron Jama’s territory since he was already launching aircraft from the carriers. He mentioned that operating high-altitude recon planes from a carrier was difficult, so this must be it.
"Hmm. I see."
"Um, I’m completely lost when it comes to airplanes... but I’m grateful to have such a detailed map."
"Yes. So, what do you make of this map?"
"Ah, I got sidetracked by the conversation with Comet. As written in the documents, the Zurable Empire is in the west and the Hein Empire is in the east, and they are currently locked in battle."
As Yuki-san said this, he tapped his computer, and the map was color-coded in blue and red to represent the spheres of influence. This was the current tactical situation.
"Furthermore, these are the locations of the dungeons that Kirika has discovered or gathered intelligence on."
Yellow circles representing dungeons appeared on the map, and they were indeed scattered only across the eastern side. Ah, so this is the influence of the Great Barrier that Hairen erected.
"Well, that’s only natural if you read these documents."
"Yes. I don't know if it was truly five thousand times the cost, but there’s no reason to deploy a dungeon in a location where you can’t maintain it for long unless there’s a compelling reason."
"And that brings us to the problem at hand. The Zurable Empire will now have to step into territory controlled by unknown dungeons to continue their fight."
"Right. If the dungeons were just sitting there, it wouldn't be much of an issue, but if they are being used as tools of war, the Zurable Empire will suffer devastating losses without a chance to recover."
The words spoken by the Dungeon Masters echoed what Yuki-san had told us. Honestly, if our rent suddenly jumped five thousand times, we’d move too. More importantly, everyone in this room understood clearly that if the Zurable Empire pushed into the Hein Empire and the local Dungeon Masters stood against them as enemies, the damage would be catastrophic. That is how formidable a dungeon truly is.
...But most Dungeon Masters just create monsters, don't they? Well, even that is powerful enough to instantly produce an army as long as you have the DP... Wait.
It was only after thinking that far that I noticed something strange.
"Hey, Ratz."
"Yes?"
"Dungeon Masters usually use monsters as their primary fighting force, right?"
"That’s correct. From Yuki-san to all the Dungeon Masters here, everyone uses monsters as their main combat power. Humans take too much time to train and resupply... Oh!"
Ratz seemed to have realized what I was getting at. And so did all the other Dungeon Masters.
"So, I must confirm: have monsters been deployed in the battles thus far?"
"No, for some reason, they haven't. That is exactly why I gathered all of you busy Dungeon Masters. How do you explain this bizarre situation? The Hein Empire has had its territory seized to this extent, and we’ve even seen the enemy using monsters as an army—so why haven't they deployed the monsters they should be able to summon?"
I see. This is what Yuki-san wanted to ask. The meeting to investigate the inexplicable state of the Hein Empire’s dungeons began. What answer would they find?